Since today i'm at home, i'll write about the unpleasant events that happen right before my eyes as a Singaporean. Well it's not that Singapore is all that bad but there are people out there that make the whole Singapore seem so bad!

Well yesterday while walking on the way home from the MRT station I saw a old woman got knocked down by a Lexus SUV. The old woman's leg got crushed under the right wheel of the SUV and she was in such pain that she was shouting so loudly. Of course after seeing the old woman got knocked down I ran over to the scene and as expected I saw an open fracture with her lower leg twisted and crushed in a L shape. The driver reversed his right wheel off her leg and I saw the real devastation, the leg was crushed and protruding out.

Here's a rough picture of how the fracture look like:

While there was another bypasser lady that consoled the old woman, I ran across the street to the nearest NPP to call the police officers out. By the time I returned with 2 police officers there were a dozen people surrounding the scene, grrr! These kaypoh ppl ought to get hit themselves too!

While waiting for the paramedics the police officers tried to get some contact information from the old woman but she was in too much pain and too disorientated. While talking to her and taking her vital signs, she told me that she was 93 years old. I too thought that she was very strong at her age! To check for any signs of spinal injury I asked her whether she's feeling and numbness or pain anywhere else. Luckily none of this sort cos she's still moving her upper body abit.

Well others kept on looking and gossiping I attended to the old woman while the other bypasser helping left. There was so much people crowding around the scene of accident till the police officer had to chase them away and disperse the crowd. But some still stayed on but did nothing to help but just rather, gossip.

Well luckily the paramedics came quickly enough just about after 10 minutes and they took over by bandaging and placing a support on her broken leg. They then placed her on the stretcher and sent her to SGH for treatment.

This male driver in his forties admitted that he only looked at the oncoming traffic on his left when turning out of the car park and not in both directions before turning out of the car park. According to his claim, he saw the old woman and slammed his brakes but the car took some time to stop so it crushed her leg.

Well more or less it shows the attitude of some drivers in Singapore. And one thing I found out since i came back from US is that Singaporeans never follow stop signs! That is why the need for so much traffic lights everywhere!

Well another point I'd like to mention is the Smile Singapore campaign. It will never work if you ask Singaporeans to smile and yet have so much bad habits like not giving up their seats on the trains and buses(pretending to read the newspapers or something else), crowding in front of the train door, refusing to let alighting passengers go when there is a courtesy sign in front of these boarding passengers IN FOUR NATIONAL LANGUAGES to allow alighting passengers to go alight before boarding. There are many other things that need to be changed...

I'm not saying Singaporeans and/or Singapore is all that bad but the behaviors of some Singaporeans are left much to be desired. Especially when they're teaching their kids the same thing too!

While some people would say and think to themselves, what other people do has nothing to do with me, I disagree on that. This is becos' if they are displaying such undesirable behaviors in public that portray such a bad image of our country. They can do it at home for all I care, as long as they don't come out of it and make Singapore look like such a rude country!

Below is a letter I wrote to Get Real show in Channel News Asia early this year: The highlighted part is the part that got featured.

Dear Diana,

Talking about manners and considerate manners for fellow manners, Singapore still have a long long way to go. Well compared to our fellow neighboring countries, we certainly have a more courteous society.

But personally I feel that these manners start from the education system in particular. A contradicting education system which confuses our young Singaporeans. Very often back in the days of our schools, even up to tertiary education, we are told to clear our plates and receptacles after eating, but yet when these very children go out to town with their parents, they are told not to clear their plates, and instilled with the very opposite thinking that someone is paid to remove their plates and receptacles after eating.

So what are our Civics and Moral Education subject in schools for?

Some people would say that by not clearing our plates, we are instead creating jobs for the people in the housekeeping industry, keeping senior citizens employed, but how would they feel if it is their own family members clearing the plates for them?With the same point, you would never see a Singaporean leave their plates for someone else to clear at home. Why? Because it is THEIR homes and they feel the responsibility to keep it clean!

On a second point, maybe Get Real! should travel to some crowded MRT stations, like Raffles Place or City hall to see how Singaporeans behave, and at the same time filming in the same inconsiderate people who squeeze on the train when others are alighting, oblivious to the notice in the FOUR national languages and announcements asking them to give way to alighting passengers. To a funny note, I'd like to play rugby with these people sometimes in order to get off the train.

And also for those people who stand at the glass panels by the train doors, I would often think of them like the Chinese Lions who stand guard at the door of a place. SMRT and SBS transit for a start should start taking away all those glass panels on their trains, and solve this problem of these people without a spine.

You cannot run away from rude fellow Singaporeans. They are existent in every corner of the island.Even when at home, some Singaporeans come home to a partying neighbor party late into the wee hours of the morning. And the interesting thing is that even the police cannot do much, as mentioned before they cannot do much about these residents except to advise and warn them. Very seldom we see the Miscellaneous Act (Cap 184, 14&15) being enforced.

Interestingly, Miscellaneous Act (Cap 184, 11f), even enforces on spitting:Nuisances11. —(1) Any person who commits any of the following offences shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000:(f) spits in any coffee shop, market, eating house, school house, theatre or public building, or in any omnibus, railway carriage or other public conveyance, or on any wharf or jetty, or in any public road, or on any five-foot way or sidewalk of any public road, or in any other place to which the public has or may have access.

We all know Singapore is the only country around having a Courtesy campaign annually, begging Singaporeans to be more considerate, but do we all listen to it?

Maybe we can start by enforcing these these even outside of the schools.